VacationSelector
The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, Lyon
LyonThe Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
ValenciaThe City of Arts and Sciences

Photos: Lyon by Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Valencia by Francesco Ungaro, Pexels License.

Lyon or Valencia?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Lyon for

  • live music and the arts
  • food and drink
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on Lyon’s own page.

Choose Valencia for

  • beaches
  • prices
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Valencia’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Lyon 12, Valencia 78: Valencia leads by 66 points.
Food & drink. Lyon 84, Valencia 74: Lyon leads by 10 points.
Culture & sights. Lyon 77, Valencia 68: Lyon leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Lyon 58, Valencia 66: Valencia leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Lyon 64, Valencia 60: Lyon leads by 4 points.
Day trips. Lyon 77, Valencia 70: Lyon leads by 7 points.
Good for families. Lyon 62, Valencia 75: Valencia leads by 13 points.
Getting around. Lyon 77, Valencia 76: Lyon leads by 1 points.
Shopping & style. Lyon 58, Valencia 57: Lyon leads by 1 points.
Affordability. Lyon 42, Valencia 57: Valencia leads by 15 points.
Live music & performing arts. Lyon 68, Valencia 55: Lyon leads by 13 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Lyon 40, Valencia 42: Valencia leads by 2 points.
0255075100

What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Lyon and Valencia.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Lyon
60match

Wins on live music and the arts and food and drink with your weighting.

Valencia
Best match
65match

Wins on beaches and prices with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Lyon in July

28 °Cdaytime high
17 °Cnight-time low
66 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
No seasea
15 hdaylight a day

Valencia in July

30 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
7 mmrain in the month
10 hsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0255075100125JFMAMJJASOND
LyonValencia

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Lyon: 1991-2020 normals, Lyon / Bron (10.6 km from centre). Valencia: 1991-2020 normals, Valencia (1.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureLyonValencia
Official languageFrenchSpanish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Euro (EUR)
SocketsCE230 V, 50 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number112112
Elevation160 m15 m
Main airportLyon Saint-Exupéry Airport (LYS)20 km from centre141 non-stop destinationsValencia Airport (VLC)9 km from centre109 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureLyonValencia
City population519,127840,792
People per km²10,8386,242
Museums within 10 km4345
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km22
Swim season, months above 21 °C-5 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Lyon or Valencia somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.